Wi-Fi Alliance Applauds South Korea 6 GHz Decision

(Image credit: Future)

The Wi-Fi Alliance is applauding South Korea for opening up a key spectrum band for Wi-Fi use.

According to the alliance, the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) has agreed to allow Wi-Fi operations in the 6 MHz band.

elated: D.C. Weighs in on FCC's 6GHz Unlicensed Vote 

"With this decision, South Korea becomes the first country in Asia-Pacific to harness additional economic value from unlicensed spectrum and realize the transformative socioeconomic benefits of Wi-Fi 6E," said the alliance, whose backers include Comcast, Qualcomm and Motorola.

The alliance pushed hard, and ultimately successfully, for the U.S. to open up the band.

The FCC voted unanimously April 23 to allow the entire 1200 MHz of the 6 GHz band to be shared with unlicensed Wi-Fi, the FCC's latest move in freeing up more spectrum for connecting 5G in-home devices--video streaming, video calls--and connecting IoT devices to the internet. 

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.